‘Political tension!’ Anxiety rocks APC as Supreme Court decides on Ondo guber

Freelanews is reporting that there is serious tension among chieftains and principal members of the All Progressives Congress in Abuja as the Supreme Court is to give a verdict on Governor Rotimi Akeredolu’s election victory.

Source: Read more at theheute.com.ng

The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Eyitayo Jegede, is challenging the nomination letter of Akeredolu signed by Mai Mala Buni who doubles as the governor of Yobe and the interim chairman of the ruling’s party’s caretaker committee.

The newspaper on Wednesday, July 28, said an APC source who spoke without giving his name disclosed that executive members of the party are afraid that if the court gives a judgment different from the ruling of the Court of Appeal, there will be serious trouble within the ranks,

The source said a contrary verdict from the Supreme Court will mean that Buni might be faced with the tough option of vacating his seat in the APC, implying that this case is beyond Akeredolu’s mandate as the seating governor of Ondo.

He said:

“This case is more than the Ondo state governor; it is a case that has the potency of obliterating the entire APC structure in the country.

“If the verdict goes contrary to what the lower courts have decided, it means that we cannot come out of the crisis until 2023.

“The implication is that our chairman has to vacate his seat, all he had done before would be null and void, especially all our candidates who won elections within the period he has held the office shall vacate their seats.

Although the petition filed by Jegede was recently dismissed by the Court of Appeal in Ondo, Akeredolu of Ondo still had a tough hurdle to cross.

A day after the appellate court ruled in favour of Governor Akeredolu’s election, Jegede, the candidate of the PDP, had vowed to take the matter to the Supreme Court.

In a statement issued through the PDP’s secretariat in the state, Jegede argued that the next best thing to do is to approach the apex court since it was glaring even to the average person that the case was inconclusive.